The United States Supreme Court may have thrown out the public corruption convictions for former Governor Bob McDonnell and his wife Maureen McDonnell. But that’s not the end of legal jeopardy for the couple.
The fat lady is still singing in the ongoing opera starring Bob and Maureen McDonnell, once the most powerful couple in Virginia politics, now trying to put their lives back together after being convicted of corruption by a jury, only to have that conviction thrown out by the Supreme Court. Now prosecutors are considering their next move.
“It’s unquestionably a much tougher case for the government than it was before the Supreme Court’s ruling."
That’s white collar defense attorney Michael Levy.
“If you are the prosecutors in this case you really need to go back to Square One and reassess your entire case your entire case under the new standard that the Supreme Court has laid out."
That new standard involves a new definition of what constitutes an official act. Setting up a meeting, for example, doesn’t count. University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias says prosecutors may try to strike a deal.
"Perhaps the government will be willing to strike a settlement with the McDonnell’s and they may be too. But the nature of it is not clear. I mean, it might be that they would serve some time or that they would do some public service."
The McDonnell’s were given an opportunity to strike a deal before, though, and they decided to take the case to court instead.
